Connecticut Anglicans: We Rather Pray In A Bank Than Allow Gays

A Connecticut Anglican church congregation has decided abandon their historic building, valued at over $7M, rather than continue to be associated with recent liberal stances of their denomination, including the recent ordination of Gene Robinson, an openly gay bishop. The building is owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut, not the local congregation.

It was the last Sunday service at Christ Church. Unable to go "further in a church that continued in a false gospel," the entire congregation, including the rector and church leaders, will sever ties with the national Episcopal Church and reform under a new name: New Hope Anglican Church.

One of the "Connecticut six," the half-dozen churches in the state diocese that disagree with national leadership on departure of scripture, including the appointment of a gay bishop, the congregation will trade its historic building on the town green for a free community room at the Thomaston Savings Bank around the corner.

The church was founded in 1764 as part of the Church of England. In case you haven't been following along, the Anglican Church is tearing itself apart nationwide over the gay issue, with many congregations opting to leave.

Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu said last month that he was "saddened and ashamed" of his church's "obsession" with homosexuality. Tutu: "Our world is facing problems -- poverty, HIV and AIDS -- a devastating pandemic, and conflict. God must be weeping looking at some of the atrocities that we commit against one another. In the face of all of that, our Church, especially the Anglican Church, at this time is almost obsessed with questions of human sexuality. If God as they say is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God."